Famed author's disputed estate worth $1.9m

Nearly $2 million in cash and property - and possibly some gold bars - is at the centre of a bitter legal battle over the estate of famed Australian author Colleen McCullough.

The dispute is headed for trial in the NSW Supreme Court next week, but the parties on Wednesday were ordered to have further negotiations to potentially avoid at least seven days of costly hearings.

Dr McCullough's widower is accused of "unduly influencing" the late novelist to make a will in "suspicious circumstances" that left her entire estate to him 12 days before she died on Norfolk Island in late January 2015.